"I think it's very exciting that Stardust could inspire something so beautiful," said Aimee Whalen,
educational and public outreach manager for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. "When I saw it I was so impressed!"

The students' masterpiece, created with acrylic paint, currently hangs on display at NASA
Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The mural, divided into three sections -- Stardust's launch, its encounter
with Comet Wild 2 and the spacecraft's rendezvous with Earth and release of the sample capsule in 2006 -- will be moved to JPL at the end of March, where it will hang for approximately three months. The
laboratory then plans to rotate it yearly to various museums, said Whalen.

The students' work of art was also part of an exhibit display for the JASON Project 2000, one of
Stardust's educational partner programs. It hung on display for three months at the Bell Museum of Natural
History at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.

"The students and I thought it was such a privilege to have the mural hang at the University of
Minnesota," said Dee McLellan, math and computer teacher and JPL Solar System Educator. "But when
the Stardust Project Office at JPL was interested in displaying it, they just thought 'Wow!'"

Both students received $1,000 from JPL for their work. According to Whalen, the girls plan to put
the money towards their college education. Sarah is looking into combining the fields of science and art in
the future. "I hope that some of what we do here has helped to inspire her dream," said Whalen.

Stardust, launched in February 1999, just received a gravity boost on Jan. 15, as it made its closest
approach to Earth at just over 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) above the southeastern coast of Africa. On
Jan. 2, 2004, nearly 390 million kilometers (242 million miles) from Earth, it will encounter its final
destination -- Comet Wild 2. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science,
Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. For more information and
images of Stardust go to
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov.